


Wandering

by Zeddembi



Series: Short Fics [5]
Category: As It Is (Band), Bandom, Set It Off (Band), Waterparks (Band)
Genre: Angst, Bandits & Outlaws, Cowboys, Red Dead AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-03-06 06:58:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18845977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zeddembi/pseuds/Zeddembi
Summary: Just a bit of playing around with an idea for a cowboy au.





	Wandering

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Everything I know about America I learnt from Red Dead Redemption 2. Thank you for your understanding.

“Do we have anything to put on this?” Awsten asked, looking at his bowl of beans and stale bread. 

“I’ve mixed up a bit of salsa,” Foley offered, holding up a jar.

Awsten took it and ate a spoonful, grimacing at the taste. “You call this salsa? Who the fuck even _are_ you anymore?”

“We’re running out of ingredients,” Foley said defensively, “This was the best I could do with what we have.”

Awsten spooned more onto his food. “Whatever.” 

“This is a bad camp for that,” Ben said of the supply shortage, “Hunting’s shit, there are no good fishing spots, town’s too far away, we don’t get enough opportunities to restock. Stealing from the edges of orchards just isn’t enough, we should move again soon.”

“We’ve only been here a few weeks,” Awsten argued. 

“And it’s sucked the whole time we’ve been here,” Dan said from his spot under a tree, his hat low over his face. Ben had thought he was sleeping. “Do you wanna keep eating shitty salsa and rotten stew?” 

Foley pouted. “Hey…I’m doing my best.”

“Well, where will we go?” Awsten demanded, “ _Everything_ is too far away, another trip could take weeks.”

“Then we’ll travel for weeks,” Ben said.

Their meal was interrupted by the sound of galloping hooves echoing through the clearing. Ben stood, watching the treeline as he drew his guns. Law enforcement?

Patty broke through the bushes, heading straight for them. Something was wrong.

“Patty, where’s Ron?” called Ali. 

“They got him,” he said, pulling up beside them, his voice rough.

Ben’s stomach twisted. He holstered his guns and helped Patty off his horse, seeing tears on his face. “Foley, take Bella,” he commanded, “Who got him? Patty?”

Foley hurried over to coo at Bella and lead her to the other horses.

“They must’ve recognised us from posters or something.” He shook violently. “I couldn’t do anything, they caught us when we were leaving and Ronnie drew on them and then-”

Ben was startled by the warm stickiness he felt when he tried to rub Patty’s back. “Patty, are you bleeding?” he asked, alarmed.

“I- I don’t know, they were shooting at me as I was riding out.”

Geoff rushed forward, taking Patty in his arms. “C’mon, we’ll talk about it at the medical tent.” 

Patty broke down into sobs they went to the tent, Geoff murmuring reassurances.

“Camp meeting,” Ben told everyone else, “Now.”

They gathered around the central campfire, tension electrifying the air. 

Ben thought for a moment, then addressed the group. “We’ll send a few people into town tomorrow morning, scope things out, see what people are saying.”

“Hopefully they’ll try to move him to a prison and we’ll get an opportunity to get him back,” Dan said.

“Hopefully,” said Ben, “But they might do something more drastic. We don’t know why they took him in yet.” He glanced around the group. “Who hasn’t been in town with Ron or Patty? Anyone they won’t recognise as their friends?” 

“Me?” Zach suggested, “Dan and Foley?” 

They both nodded their agreement. 

“Cody too, I think.” 

“We’ll ask him when he gets back,” Ben said, “We need to know what they’re planning on doing with Ron as soon as possible.” 

“Should we be ready to leave?” Dan asked, brow furrowed. 

Ben sighed. “I think so. It’ll be too risky, trying to get Ronnie back here without getting caught and then sticking around. We don’t know what kind of condition he’ll be in.” 

There was a chorus of murmured concerns. Ben didn’t bother to allay their worries. 

“Start packing all your non-essentials, at least. We’ll figure out the details when we know more, we can’t rush into this. Everyone got that?”

Everyone nodded. 

“Let’s go then. Tell the others what’s happened when they get back. Ali, let’s look at the maps again.” 

The group split off and Ben followed Ali to the tent they shared with Foley. A few maps were already out since they’d been discussing moving again for a few days anyway. 

“Getting out unnoticed is the priority,” Ben told him, “What do we have?”

Ali pulled out a map of the area. “Not a lot, really. We have the cover of trees for a while along this road,” He pointed out the route. “But that comes out onto a beach for miles. We’d be exposed for hours.”

“If we move at night?” 

“We’d have to be quiet, but we all know the wagons aren’t really good at that. Sound carries over water. It would be a risk. If anyone noticed us they’d definitely ask questions.” 

Ben frowned. “Look at other routes. We’ll make a list of pros and cons for each, then have people check out the ones we hate least.” 

Cody burst into the tent. “Ronnie’s been arrested?” he demanded. 

Ben nodded. “You haven’t been seen with him or Patty in town before, have you?”

Cody shook his head. “What? No, I don’t think so.”

Ben took his shoulder and lead him out of the tent. “We’ll need you to check things out. Hit the saloon, gossip, figure out what they’re saying about him.” 

“We don’t know anything yet?”

“No.”

“I’ll leave now.”

Ben shook his head. “It’ll be dark by the time you get there. Ride in with Zach, Dan and Foley tomorrow morning.” 

Cody looked about to argue.

“ _Please,_ Cody. We can’t afford any fuckups right now.”

He looked unhappy about it, but agreed. “I’ll go talk to the others.” 

“Thank you.”

Ben headed for the medical tent, a tarp stretched out from the wagon to two poles with a carpeted ground and crates of supplies keeping things anchored. Patty occupied the stretcher, undressed down to his waist and lying on his stomach, face in his arms. Geoff had wrapped bandages tight around his shoulder. 

“How are you?” Ben asked gently.

He sniffed, turning his head to look at Ben with reddened eyes. “Not good.”

Ben rubbed his unwounded shoulder. “We’re gonna get him back,” he promised, “Then we’re gonna get the fuck out of here and find a place they won’t recognise us.” 

Patty nodded. More tears spilled out. “He must feel so alone,” he whimpered. 

“Ronnie’s tough.” he reassured, “He’s probably hoping _you’re_ okay. Rest up. We’ll let you know how things go, okay?” 

Patty nodded. 

Ben spotted Geoff packing some supplies on the wagon and went to him. “Hey, thanks for patching Patty up. What do you think of him?”

“He needs to heal, but he’ll be okay. It was a shallow wound, they must’ve been really far away when they hit him.”

Ben nodded. “Can you give him something to help him sleep?”

Geoff shook his head. “Nothing he’ll drink. You know how he is about it.”

Ben nodded, remembering the all the times Patty had grit his teeth through much worse injuries, refusing to take even a drop of whiskey. “He’s tough like that,” he said, “Just make sure he doesn’t try to leave the bed.”

“Will do.” 

“Has he said much?”

“He didn’t see a lot. They’d been about to leave when it happened, Charlie got lassoed so Ronnie told Patty to come back here without him and tell us what happened.” 

“I’m surprised he listened,” Ben commented, “Must’ve been hard on him.” 

Geoff nodded. 

“Thanks for treating him. Keep his mind busy, okay?”

“Yeah, I will.”

Ben left him to it, looking around the camp. He supposed he should be packing, too. On the way back to his tent, Maxx approached him. 

“How’s Patty?”

Ben shrugged. “Upset. Injury’s not too bad, though. Geoff says he’ll recover.”

“That’s good. We’re moving, then?”

“Supply runs were hard enough even before they were out for our heads. We’ll have to move as soon as we can.”

Maxx glanced around. “No time for one more job?”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Some rich asshole coming in for the auction.”

“That’s a fortnight away,” Ben said, frowning, “I think we’re hoping to be away sooner than that.”

“People are already coming in for it, though. From what I’ve heard, this particular asshole will be here in a few days. I won’t need more than two other people, even if the rest of the camp leaves we can stay back a bit and catch up later.”

Ben nodded, thinking. “We’ll have a think about it when we know more about Ronnie’s situation. We’re sending the camp ahead before we break him out anyway, so it might work out well. We could do with a bit of money right now.” 

“Hey, if we’re getting run out of town anyway,” Maxx said with a shrug. “Might as well go out with a bang.”

**Author's Note:**

> I don't really know if I'll do more for this universe. We'll see, I guess.


End file.
